Renault-Nissan aims to leapfrog competition on new battery technology

Reports have come out that the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is aiming to take the lead in new solid-state battery technology.

The Alliance, formed in 1999 between the French and Japanese car giants, is targeting 2025 to use the next generation of batteries within its automobile range.

Solid-state batteries are smaller, cheaper and can work at a higher capacity than alternatives, such as lithium-ion, currently widely used in the industry.

Gilles Normand, Renault’s head of electric vehicles, told the Financial Times, that “the technology promises huge advantages over current lithium ion batteries in cost, density and thermal stability…There are many challenges, but we are making very good progress with an aim of getting it to market before 2030, and by 2025 if possible”.

The conglomerate faces competition from both Toyota and BMW, which also expects to release solid-state batteries within its cars during the 2020s.

The potential for using solid-state batteries is also being pushed on the state level. The UK Government has recently set up The Faraday Institution to help make advancements in battery technology, and one of its main aims is to research solid-state batteries.

Sales of electric vehicles, while still small, have skyrocketed in recent years due to plummeting costs and the need to meet emissions targets. National government have also made public pledges to make the transition to cleaner forms of transport. France and the UK both plan to end sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040; Germany is also seeking to have one million active electric cars by 2020.

Advancements in the technology have led energy experts to make predictions that by 2040 sales of electric vehicles could account for one third of the world’s auto fleet, a total of 530 million vehicles.